Microsoft To Show Off How Weak Their Security Is To Governments

from the yeah,-that-seems-likely-to-help dept

It's not entirely clear how useful this is, but in an attempt to diminish worries from foreign governments concerning the security of Microsoft's software, they're going to reveal their security holes to government officials earlier than they're released to the public. While this is a minor admission that security by obscurity isn't a reasonable long term solution, it's not clear why this would actually reassure governments -- as they're basically just going to find out that Microsoft has a lot of security holes on its plate to fix. And, every time a few get closed, more seem to open up.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    dorpus, 2 Feb 2005 @ 12:04pm

    Light Bulbs and Thought Police

    What if Microsoft deliberately left holes in its operating system at the orders of an unknown government entity, so the government can snoop on people?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    metaphim, 2 Feb 2005 @ 4:05pm

    Re: Light Bulbs and Thought Police

    Sure, why not? Who says that the government doesn't already have the technology to snoop with or without Microsft's help? How do we know that they don't read all of our e-mails anyway? Who's to say?

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.